As traveling musicians, as local musicians, as guitar players who play in their basement all afternoon... When that inevitable moment comes where we're forced to play in front of others, we sometimes crack under the pressure. Yet as the years progress, we simply find better ways to deal with it all.

Personally, as a guitarist, throughout my life I've always played around people, whether it's been family, friends, or the neighbors. I guess being that my family was so proud of my musical achievements, they used to brag (like any parents would) and they pushed me even farther than I could ever imagine. However, naturally under all of that pressure, I was never quite comfortable with an audience. I've always been more comfortable writing songs in my room, instead of performing in front of a group of eager friends.

But still, as musicians, we have to get over our fears because it's very important to be be able to share our music with others. We can't sit in our rooms all afternoon and simply hide from the outside world. We have to be willing to accept a little criticism, and bull****. :eek:

However, we all have our own methods for keeping it all together (when playing in front of others.) For me, as a practicing musician, for the most part I gaze into the nether void when playing, of course I glance at my instrument every now and then, but I tend to try and close my eyes and imagine that I'm somewhere else, or perhaps by myself.

This helps me concentrate on my playing, and it's something that comes very natural to me. I think for every musician it's important for them to find their sweet spot, and no matter where we are, we can easily find ourselves mesmerized by our tunes.

However, we all have our own methods for keeping our nerves under controls. What's yours?

-Joseph